Statement from USCIS Acting Director Tracy Renaud on Today’s DOJ Asylum Decisions

"We applaud the attorney general's decisions today vacating two prior decisions that limited asylum eligibility for individuals fleeing violence perpetrated by domestic partners or on account of familial relationships in their home countries. We have advised our officers to no longer rely on the vacated decisions and are working to swiftly provide specific, comprehensive guidance to our workforce to align our policies with these decisions.

USCIS Extends Transitional Parole for CNMI Long-Term Resident Status Applicants

USCIS announced today that it will automatically extend parole and employment authorization, if applicable, for parolees who timely applied for Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) long-term resident status.

This specific extension of parole applies only to current parolees who timely filed Form I-955, Application for CNMI Long-Term Resident Status, and Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and whose applications remain pending on June 30, 2021. USCIS will automatically extend their parole (and employment authorization, if applicable)

Visa Bulletin August 2021 Predictions

For official July 2021 Visa Bulletin & Analysis, please click here: https://www.mygcvisa.com/visa-bulletin/2021/visa-bulletin-july-2021.aspx

Please see August 2021 Visa Bulletin Predictions below (for both Family Based and Employment Based categories for all countries):

Family Based:

Final Action Dates

Dates For Filing Applications

"Final Action Date" is the date when when USCIS/DOS may render their final decision on submitted applications. Your priority date should be before this date.

Family- Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	22NOV14	22NOV14	22NOV14	01NOV98	08MAR12
F2A	C	C	C	C	C
F2B	22SEP15	22SEP15	22SEP15	01MAR00	01NOV11
F3	15NOV08	15NOV08	15NOV08	01APR97	01JUL02
F4	22FEB07	22FEB07	01SEP05	01JAN99	15JUL02

"Date for Filing Application" is the date when you can submit I-485/NVC applications to USCIS/DOS. Your priority date should be before this date.

Family- Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	15JUN16	15JUN16	15JUN16	15AUG00	01AUG15
F2A	01JUL21	01JUL21	01JUL21	01JUL21	01JUL21
F2B	08OCT16	08OCT16	08OCT16	01SEP00	01DEC13
F3	01SEP09	01SEP09	01SEP09	15SEP00	08NOV03
F4	22OCT07	22OCT07	22DEC05	01JUN99	01APR04

Statement from USCIS Acting Director Tracy Renaud in Honor of Immigrant Heritage Month

"June marks the seventh annual celebration of Immigrant Heritage Month, which honors the individual and collective contributions made by immigrants in communities across the United States.

In keeping with President Biden's Executive Order 14012, Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans, we are working to rebuild confidence in our lawful immigration system and promote the benefits and privileges of citizenship to those who may be eligible.

At USCIS, our mission is to administer our nation's legal immigration system fairly, humanely and in a way that honors wh

Vermont Service Center Address Change

ALERT: The new addresses listed below will not be in effect until June 25, 2021. Please continue to use the St. Albans addresses in the below chart under "Previous Address" through June 24, 2021.

Effective June 14, 2021, the Vermont Service Center will no longer receive any incoming mail at the St. Albans, VT facility, which is being decommissioned.

Mail sent to the previous addresses will be forwarded for one year, but any mail sent to the previous addresses after June 2022 may be returned to the sender by the United States Postal Service or the courier service used.

Please refer to the chart below for the updated addresses.

Mail	<

USCIS Announces Lockbox Filing Flexibilities

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will offer filing flexibilities to provide relief to certain applicants and petitioners impacted by delays at a USCIS lockbox. These flexibilities only apply to benefit requests submitted to a USCIS lockbox and not to USCIS service centers or field offices.

The following temporary flexibilities are effective for 60 days from June 10 until Aug. 9, 2021:

• If you submitted a benefit request to a USCIS lockbox between Oct. 1, 2020, and April 1, 2021, and that request was rejected during that timeframe solely due to a filing fee payment that expired while the benefit request was awaiting processing, you may resubmit the request with a new fee payment. If USCIS concurs that it has rejected the benefit request because of the delay, USCIS will deem the request to have been received on the initial filing date it was first received a

USCIS Updates Policies to Improve Immigration Services

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued new policy updates in the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify the criteria and circumstances for expedited processing; improve request for evidence (RFE) and notice of intent to deny (NOID) guidance; and increase the validity period for initial and renewal employment authorization documents (EADs) for certain noncitizens with pending adjustment of status applications.

"We are taking action to eliminate policies that fail to promote access to the legal immigration system, and will continue to make improvements that help individuals navigate the path to citizenship, and that modernize our immigration system," said Secretary of Homeland Secu

Cap Reached for Additional Returning Worker H-2B Visas for FY 2021

Under the recently announced H-2B supplemental cap temporary final rule, USCIS has received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 16,000 H-2B visas made available for returning workers only. We continue to accept petitions for H-2B nonimmigrant workers for the additional 6,000 visas allotted for nationals of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador (collectively called the Northern Triangle).

We began accepting H-2B petitions on May 25 under the temporary final rule increasing the cap by up to 22,000 additional H-2B nonimmigrant visas through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2021. Of the 22,000 additional visas, 1

July 2021 Visa Bulletin Analysis

For July 2021 Visa Bulletin, please click here: https://www.mygcvisa.com/visa-bulletin/2021/visa-bulletin-july-2021.aspx

Please see below analysis of July 2021 Visa Bulletin:

Family Based:

Final Action Dates

Dates For Filing Applications

"Final Action Date" is the date when when USCIS/DOS may render their final decision on submitted applications. Your priority date should be before this date.

Family- Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	+14 Days	+14 Days	+14 Days	+5 Months	No Change
F2A	No Change	No Change	No Change	No Change	No Change
F2B	+24 Days	+24 Days	+24 Days	+4 Months 23 Days	No Change
F3	+2 Months	+2 Months	+2 Months	+3 Months 23 Days	No Change
F4	+2 Months	+2 Months	+3 Months 7 Days	+3 Months 14 Days	+14 Days

"Date for Filing Application" is the date when you can submit I-485/NVC applications to USCIS/DOS. Your priority date should be before this date.

Family- Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	+2 Months 14 Days	+2 Months 14 Days	+2 Months 14 Days	+2 Months 17 Days	+11 Months 7 Days
F2A	+1 Month	+1 Month	+1 Month	+1 Month	+1 Month
F2B	+1 Month 7 Days	+1 Month 7 Days	+1 Month 7 Days	No Change	+2 Months
F3	+21 Days	+21 Days	+21 Days	No Change	+1 Month 24 Days
F4	No Change	No Change	No Change	No Change	+5 Months 24 Days

July 2021 Visa Bulletin

For June 2021 Visa Bulletin, please click here: https://www.mygcvisa.com/visa-bulletin/2021/visa-bulletin-june-2021.aspx

For analysis of July 2021 Visa Bulletin, please click here: https://www.mygcvisa.com/visa-bulletin/2021/visa-bulletin-analysis-july-2021.aspx

July 2021 Visa Bulletin has been officially released (valid from July 1 to July 31 only). Please see below for more details.

Family Based:

Final Action Dates

Dates For Filing Applications

"Final Action Date" is the date when when USCIS/DOS may render their final decision on submitted applications. Your priority date should be before this date.

Family- Sponsored	All Chargeability  Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland  born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	15NOV14	15NOV14	15NOV14	01OCT98	22FEB12
F2A	C	C	C	C	C
F2B	15SEP15	15SEP15	15SEP15	01FEB00	15OCT11
F3	01NOV08	01NOV08	01NOV08	08MAR97	08JUN02
F4	08FEB07	08FEB07	15AUG05	15DEC98	22JUN02

"Date for Filing Application" is the date when you can submit I-485/NVC applications to USCIS/DOS. Your priority date should be before this date.

Family- Sponsored	All Chargeability  Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland  born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	15MAY16	15MAY16	15MAY16	01AUG00	22APR15
F2A	01JUN21	01JUN21	01JUN21	01JUN21	01JUN21
F2B	22SEP16	22SEP16	22SEP16	08AUG00	01OCT13
F3	22AUG09	22AUG09	22AUG09	08SEP00	01OCT03
F4	01OCT07	01OCT07	01DEC05	08MAY99	01FEB04

July 2021 Visa Bulletin Special Notes

For the official July 2021 Visa Bulletin & Analysis, please click here: https://www.mygcvisa.com/visa-bulletin/2021/visa-bulletin-july-2021.aspx

Apart from posting current dates, State Department has also added special notes to Visa Bulletin mentioned above. Please see full details below:

D. SCHEDULED EXPIRATION OF THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED FIFTH PREFERENCE I5 and R5 REGIONAL CENTER VISA CATEGORIES

Employment Fifth Preference Categories (I5 and R5):

Division O, Title 1, Section 104 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 extended this immigrant investor pilot program until June 30, 2021. The I5 and R5 visas may be issued until close of business on June 30, 2021 and may be issued for the full validity period. No I5 or R5 visas may be issued overseas, or final action taken on adjustment of status cases, after June 30, 2021.

Since there has been no legislative action at this time, the final action dates for the I5 and R5 categories have been listed as "Unavailable" for July.

If there is legislative action extending this category for July, the final action dates would immediately become "Current" for July for all countries except

USCIS Announces Pilot Program for Credit Card Payments Using Form G-1450 When Filing Form I-485

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced a pilot program for accepting credit card payments using Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions, for U nonimmigrants filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

The pilot program began on May 3 at the Nebraska Service Center and will be limited to this location. The service center started accepting credit card payments from certain Form I-485 applicants using Form G-1450. Applicants must be U nonimmigrants (victims of criminal activity). At the end of the pilot, USCIS will evaluate the results and determine the next steps for possibly expanding this payment option for other forms or other service centers.

For more information, please see our <a data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="91692def-24c5-403b-ac0d-7c11b4a70e85"

Updated Guidance on Naturalization for Veterans Living Overseas

We are updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to provide clarification regarding certain naturalization applications filed by veterans of the U.S. armed forces under section 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

INA section 329 permits certain veterans who served and were honorably discharged from the military but are not lawful permanent residents (LPRs) to file an Application for Naturalization (Form N-400) to naturalize under <a target='_blank' href="http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title8-section1440&nu

USCIS Eases Visitor Restrictions for Fully Vaccinated Individuals

Due to updated guidance from the CDC, USCIS has updated its visitor policy. Fully vaccinated individuals no longer have to wear a face covering. Individuals two years old and older who are not fully vaccinated must still wear a face covering.

To be considered fully vaccinated, it must be at least two weeks after receiving a second dose in a two-dose series or at least two weeks after receiving a dose of a single-dose vaccine.

USCIS has eased other requirements for fully vaccinated individuals who do not have COVID-19 symptoms. Those who have returned from domestic air, international air or cruise ship travel in the past 10 days may enter USCIS facilities if they are fully vaccinated. Individuals who have been in close contact (within six feet for a total of 15 minutes

DHS Announces Open Registration for Temporary Protected Status for Burma

New Designation Allows Eligible Burmese to Apply for TPS and Employment Authorization Documents

WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security today published a Federal Register notice (FRN) designating Burma for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, effective May 25, 2021, through Nov. 25, 2022. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas previously announced on March 12 that Burma would be designated for TPS.

The designation of Burma for TPS allows an estimated 1,600 Burmese nationals (or individuals having no nationality